Can someone tell me how long one should wait for an acknowledgement after sending a submission? If there isn't one could I send the story elsewhere the following week, or month, or how long? What if two people want to publish at the same time? If they don't both let me know they are going to publish the story it could be published twice, which would be awkward. How does one avoid this?

You should not submit your story to another market before you have an answer from WotF.

If a market accepts multiple submissions (submitting several stories to one market) or simultaneous submissions (submitting the same story to several markets) they will say so in their submission instructions. WotF does not accept multiple or simultaneous submissions.

The quarter ends on September 30th. After you hear back from author services, if you find that your entry was lost in transit, you can send it again and still enter this quarter.

No one will ever publish your story without your signature on a contract. So it will be impossible for someone to publish your work without your knowledge.

Strycher wrote:If a market accepts multiple submissions (submitting several stories to one market) or simultaneous submissions (submitting the same story to several markets) they will say so in their submission instructions. WotF does not accept multiple or simultaneous submissions.

And since such a small number of markets accept simultaneous submissions (simsubs) for short stories, as a practical matter I treat all markets as "no simsubs". It's also easier for me to track if each story is at just one market at a time.

Martin L. Shoemaker wrote:And since such a small number of markets accept simultaneous submissions (simsubs) for short stories, as a practical matter I treat all markets as "no simsubs". It's also easier for me to track if each story is at just one market at a time.

@animartco: For keeping track of which story is at which market (and for several other amazingly useful things) checkout Duotrope.